Organisations and Social Media
week 1
1972 email
1983 internet
1999 web 2.0
2004 social media - social media are often understood rather conveniently as coming about
all of a sudden and by accident
what are social media and what added value do they promise?
in spite of a glut of authorities telling ‘organizations’ what to do, social media are not well-
understood
social media challenge our existing knowledge and assumptions about communication and
technology
- thomas kuhn
paradigm theory = our observations and understandings are always
grounded in specific points of view → if we change point of view, we see
things in different way
social sciences cannot exist if they are not critically related to the theoretical concepts and
frameworks used by those who practice them
- anthony giddens
social theory = developing concepts and frameworks which can be put to
the service of empirical work - constitution of society
→ a proper understanding of social media, technology and communication
calls for the development of a critical social theory of social media
Kaplan & Kietzmann et al.
- strengths: recognize the importance of developing concepts and frameworks for a
better understanding of orgs and social media
- weakness: misunderstandings undermine the explanatory power of their work
→ we go further in depth on these misunderstandings.
1) social media are approached as a sudden invention in the form of Web 2.0
Kaplan & Kietzmann
- ignore that social media development has a history
- treat social media as sudden invention
Tim Berners Lee gaat daar tegenin
- referring to web 2.0 neglects the long view. je moet ook al kijken naar telefoon etc
dat zijn ook ontwikkelingen richting social media
- web 2.0 isolates social media from the growth of understanding of modern
communication technologies, the conditions of their development and their impact
, 2) social presence and media richness are used in a deterministic way (that the
outcome is always the same. als je dit doet dan is dit het gevolg)
- voor elk medium is weer een ander soort social presence nodig
- media richness is ook afhankelijk van de situatie
Kaplan & Haenlein:
niet in elke situatie is elk medium even slim of gewenst.
Gerardine DeSanctis: richer media are not necessarily preferable or more effective
than leaner electronic media
3) no attempt is made to properly theorize the connection between organizations and
social media
- organizational features are treated as a mere backdrop to social processes
- using Goffman’s sociology you cannot explain how social media use impacts on the
shaping and reshaping of organizational form
4) use of a biological analogy to describe the shaping of social media
functionalities and business needs → functionalities are ordered into
pattern of a honeycomb (bepaalde dingen over elkaar heen leggen en met
elkaar verbinden)
- anthony giddens: een honeycomb (functionality en shape) heeft toch helemaal niks
te maken met hoe sociale processen werken? heeft toch geen explanatory power?
5) claims zorgen voor difficulties in understanding orgs and social media practice
week 2
social media are both the means and the outcome of social technological transformations
that can be traced back in time. As such, they are NOT a sudden accidental invention
web 2.0 offers a poor understanding of the embeddedness of the rise of social media in
1) the wider development of mediated communication
2) the rise of modern forms of organization
3) transformations in society and day-to-day life
, social media is a techno-social phenomenon. look at the long view
theorieën die wel werken ipv web 2.0
- Theory of Network Society - manuel castells
- Theory of Risk Society and Reflexive Modernization - Anthony Giddens
Theory of Network Society
- networks are fundamental stuff of which new organizations are and will be made
- applies to societies with 2 characteristics
1) presence of technologies of networked communication (materiality) (zoals internet,
telefoon etc)
2) networks as basic form of human organization (sociality)
- identity, community, movements, organizations, politics and economy all operate as
networks and are structured
- castell claims we live and work in a highly interconnected globalized world of
networks (identities and social media, organizations, media, states
- technical and social conditions of network society in terms of opposites
the self VS the net
fourth world VS first world
space of places VS space of flows
disconnected VS connected
irrelevant VS relevant
→ not linear. it’s this or that
Theory of Risk Society and reflexive Modernization
- the notion of manufactured risk unlocks some basic features of modern culture
week 1
1972 email
1983 internet
1999 web 2.0
2004 social media - social media are often understood rather conveniently as coming about
all of a sudden and by accident
what are social media and what added value do they promise?
in spite of a glut of authorities telling ‘organizations’ what to do, social media are not well-
understood
social media challenge our existing knowledge and assumptions about communication and
technology
- thomas kuhn
paradigm theory = our observations and understandings are always
grounded in specific points of view → if we change point of view, we see
things in different way
social sciences cannot exist if they are not critically related to the theoretical concepts and
frameworks used by those who practice them
- anthony giddens
social theory = developing concepts and frameworks which can be put to
the service of empirical work - constitution of society
→ a proper understanding of social media, technology and communication
calls for the development of a critical social theory of social media
Kaplan & Kietzmann et al.
- strengths: recognize the importance of developing concepts and frameworks for a
better understanding of orgs and social media
- weakness: misunderstandings undermine the explanatory power of their work
→ we go further in depth on these misunderstandings.
1) social media are approached as a sudden invention in the form of Web 2.0
Kaplan & Kietzmann
- ignore that social media development has a history
- treat social media as sudden invention
Tim Berners Lee gaat daar tegenin
- referring to web 2.0 neglects the long view. je moet ook al kijken naar telefoon etc
dat zijn ook ontwikkelingen richting social media
- web 2.0 isolates social media from the growth of understanding of modern
communication technologies, the conditions of their development and their impact
, 2) social presence and media richness are used in a deterministic way (that the
outcome is always the same. als je dit doet dan is dit het gevolg)
- voor elk medium is weer een ander soort social presence nodig
- media richness is ook afhankelijk van de situatie
Kaplan & Haenlein:
niet in elke situatie is elk medium even slim of gewenst.
Gerardine DeSanctis: richer media are not necessarily preferable or more effective
than leaner electronic media
3) no attempt is made to properly theorize the connection between organizations and
social media
- organizational features are treated as a mere backdrop to social processes
- using Goffman’s sociology you cannot explain how social media use impacts on the
shaping and reshaping of organizational form
4) use of a biological analogy to describe the shaping of social media
functionalities and business needs → functionalities are ordered into
pattern of a honeycomb (bepaalde dingen over elkaar heen leggen en met
elkaar verbinden)
- anthony giddens: een honeycomb (functionality en shape) heeft toch helemaal niks
te maken met hoe sociale processen werken? heeft toch geen explanatory power?
5) claims zorgen voor difficulties in understanding orgs and social media practice
week 2
social media are both the means and the outcome of social technological transformations
that can be traced back in time. As such, they are NOT a sudden accidental invention
web 2.0 offers a poor understanding of the embeddedness of the rise of social media in
1) the wider development of mediated communication
2) the rise of modern forms of organization
3) transformations in society and day-to-day life
, social media is a techno-social phenomenon. look at the long view
theorieën die wel werken ipv web 2.0
- Theory of Network Society - manuel castells
- Theory of Risk Society and Reflexive Modernization - Anthony Giddens
Theory of Network Society
- networks are fundamental stuff of which new organizations are and will be made
- applies to societies with 2 characteristics
1) presence of technologies of networked communication (materiality) (zoals internet,
telefoon etc)
2) networks as basic form of human organization (sociality)
- identity, community, movements, organizations, politics and economy all operate as
networks and are structured
- castell claims we live and work in a highly interconnected globalized world of
networks (identities and social media, organizations, media, states
- technical and social conditions of network society in terms of opposites
the self VS the net
fourth world VS first world
space of places VS space of flows
disconnected VS connected
irrelevant VS relevant
→ not linear. it’s this or that
Theory of Risk Society and reflexive Modernization
- the notion of manufactured risk unlocks some basic features of modern culture
